The legend of the phoenix

And the years passed

It was a surprisingly sunny day for a November morning, that was for sure.
The smell of rain and the wetness from last night remained in the small land, and so shiny droplets were sparkling on the young prince's windows. His room was cleaned and he was dressed, ready for another day outside the palace's gates. His mother asked him to wear a thicker coat for today.
"The sun might shine, but it is still cold outside. I don't want you to catch a cold, alright?" She said to her son as she forced to cover his shoulders with a reddish coat.
Today they will be going to valley together, as mother, father and son. The boy was very excited, his father used to be very busy, and now he had the opportunity to play with him. He already packed his wooden bow and arrow to practice with him on the field. And maybe they could finally cook sweet potatoes under the leaf piles today.
Tsuki pulled his father along with him, the father laughing and asking his son to slow down a bit for they were leaving the mother behind.

After they have found a good spot under a large tree and spread a picnic blanket underneath it.
The mother had a cup of tea in her left hand, with her right hand she was waving to her playful son, who was waving back to her as he ran down the valley. The father followed with the wooden bows and arrows.

"Daddy? Will you actually teach me to catch an animal with the arrow today?" Tsuki asked with a brave face.
His father laughed.
"There's a lot you'd need to learn before going over to aiming at something that's moving"
The prince pouted, he wished to catch a deer or a bunny and show it to his other family members. They will call him a hunter, an archer and a real man!

While he was dreaming about himself being a wonderful hunter, an archer and a man, the father set the wooden aims so they could start practicing.

It was mid evening by now and the sun threw pale but warm orange and yellow rays on the land. Tsuki ran to pick up the wooden arrow that he threw to start over again. As he bend over, he saw a shadow over him that disappeared as fast as he saw it.
He got up to see and the sight made his heart drop.
In the orange sky there was a red color that was melting harmonically with the sunlight. It was the phoenix again!
Maybe it's the same he saw five years ago!

Joy and excitement ran fast through the boy's veins, he wanted to call his mother and his father, to tell them that the mysterious bird was back and that this time he wanted to stay!
But he feared that his parents wouldn't allow his staying to watch this extra ordinary sight, since they were as protective and over-worried as ever.

He turned to the tree where his parents were sitting underneath and was reassured that they were too busy chatting and drinking tea to notice the red bird.
Tsuki gulped, and with all his bravery, he turned back to the sky and walked away from the safety of his parents.
He didn't think about them getting worried, he didn't consider the consequences of his uncautios action. For the prince was firmly tangled in between the threads of curiosity and amazement of this outrageous creature.

Everything around him was silent, that's how the spell of the beautiful bird was. Tsuki was deaf to all but the hypnotising and majestic play of red and orange fire that followed the bird like a long tail of stardust while it flew its circles.
The boy had his gaze fixated on the phoenix, neither blinking nor letting his feet slow down. He didn't care if he would stumble over rocks and fall down, because even then, he was very determined to keep his eyes stuck on the bird.
Even if he fell.

The phoenix was still flying its own course carelessly, as if not even noticing the stalking boy underneath it.
How even?
Compared to the beauty, the majesty, the rarity and uniqueness of this phoenix, Tsuki was nothing but a ten years old boy who couldn't even shoot down a real animal. He wasn't even a man yet.

Tsuki stopped as the bird swung around in the air and turned to his direction.
The bird spotted him!
What an unfortunate case it was since Tsuki didn't realise how close he got to the bird. It was right above his head... how could he even realise it? He was sucked in the breathtaking appearance of that creature to even notice how far he was from his parents.
He wondered if they have been looking for him by now or not. But that didn't matter much as for the phoenix decided to fly right above the prince's head.

So here it happened.

The bird of fire made a swift bow and flew above him, a bit too close for the boy's liking. The fire brushed over the grass in front of the boy, everything he saw was just the blinding color of red. He fell backwards on his butt, not registering what just happened until the phoenix has already passed above him.
There he sat down on the ashen colored grass, baffled because of the sudden act of this unpredictable creature, not understanding what it meant until the bird was just a red spot in the horizon. It must've took its way back home (or whatever the new destination was) while Tsuki took his time to pull himself back together from the shock.

He sat down for a while and the smell of burnt grass pulled him back to reality. He looked down to his feet and saw that he, thank God, wasn't injured at all.

The loud and screeching cry of his mother scared him.
He turned around to face his father and mother running down the hill like maniacs to approach him. He smelled trouble from afar already.

After his mother slapped his cheeks and lectured him not to leave them behind without permission, he had to listen to another round of 'we were dead worried about you as we saw that phoenix fly close to the ground and noticing you were not with us'  speech by his angry father.

When the night covered the land with its black and starry veil, the royal palace was slowly getting quiet by every hour passing until the only sound that was to be heard the chirping of cockroaches.
The young boy peered through his window.
The moon wasn't shining tonight, but the sky was so clear that he could see so many stars!
The only thing that took possession of his mind at that night was the bird of fire.
He still couldn't belive that he was able to see it again today. But even though, he wasn't sure if this bird was wanting to eat him or burn him back then. Maybe it just wanted to play?
He didn't know.
It was too late for him anyway to reflect on today's events, so he decided to go to sleep and think about more important things the coming days.
The mysterious bird was not able to be reached by a weak boy like him anyway.